my buddy is running an older system and only has about $250 for upgrade. he has a e6800 and 4 gigs ddr2 @ 800mhz, but hes got a dying 8800gt and a vanilla psu. Would that cpu bottleneck the gpu? If so how noticable would it be?

So I was thinking that upgrading the gpu and psu would the best for him now while he can save more for the rest of the upgrade.

See this review that puts a high-end GPU with a bunch of low-end CPUs: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...rk,3120-4.html
A E6800, at least when not heavily OC'd, may be slower than the AMD-A4 which is at the bottom of their charts. I remember playing Civ. 5 on an AMD Athlon 5200+ and Radeon 4870, and it was unplayable at medium settings because of CPU bottleneck (proven because when I got my Core i5 2500k+motherboard, I could max the same game).

Anyway, the PSU + GPU is still the best way to spend $250 on an older computer, since both can carry over. At $250 there isn't room for a decent CPU+Mobo+RAM+PSU (assuming his PSU is junk).

EDIT: Note I game at 1680x1050.

__________________"The computer programmer says they should drive the car around the block and see if the tire fixes itself." [src]

I would agree that it will bottleneck a 6850, but the problem is his whole system is aging at this point. If he doesn't have the money for a new build, then a new graphics card and PSU is a great place to start until he can afford a CPU/MOB/RAM upgrade.

I cannot recommend a 7750/7770 or even a 6670 high enough for older systems. Look at my specs. I can play most games at high settings. Don't listen to most people claiming CPU bottlenecking games. I agree a CPU can limit a graphics card's full potential, but dual core systems can still do quite well. Don't expect to play bleeding edge games (BF3 for example) on high, but it mostly depends on what you play. I can run Dirt 3, Portal 2, Trackmania 2 all at very high settings. I don't play FPS so I can't help you there, but that IS where I am sure you'll be turning down settings.

The midrange 6 and 7 series ATI cards are quite strong and the performance value is amazing. Plus they sip power.

I just recently played mass effect 2, l4d2, and sc2 maxed out on an e4600 with my 7970 just for kicks . While the card was bottlenecked, it didn't affect my gameplay. At the end of the day, games are gpu bound and most still don't utilize more than 2 cores as it is. With a 550, 560, 6850, or even 77xx card, you should be fine.

I just recently played mass effect 2, l4d2, and sc2 maxed out on an e4600 with my 7970 just for kicks . While the card was bottlenecked, it didn't affect my gameplay. At the end of the day, games are gpu bound and most still don't utilize more than 2 cores as it is. With a 550, 560, 6850, or even 77xx card, you should be fine.

I have to disagree with you on that. I upgraded from an E8400 OC'd to 3.8 GHZ. to the i5 2500K. Still using my HD 5850. And I know for a fact I saw huge improvements in gaming. Especially First person shooters. When playing COD Black Ops. I had to decrease settings. Turn off shadows to be able to play it. now I play with full settings. Shadows are on. Also iRacing and BF3, now with Ultra settings. I went from about 20fps to around 37 fps. I know when I upgrade the GPU I will see a bigger improvement as well in the newer games. And I also have a bigger monitor at 1080p. Beleive me. The CPU is just as important as the GPU is. you can take that to the bank!!!

^^ no doubt about it. The old dual core can't even be compared to the likes of a 2500k, but with what seems like a very limited budget, I still think a gpu upgrade is the way to for the time being if more performance is needed in the short term. mid range 4xx, 5xx, 6xxx, 77xx card would be the way to go ( whatever you can get good pricing on). A complete new 2500k build is still going to be well over $500 with a new card.